1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bending devices, and more particularly pertains to a device for bending laminate of the type sold under the trademark FORMICA. This type of laminate material is frequently used in covering counter tops and other surfaces. In order to cover curved edge surfaces, a narrow laminate strip must be deformed to the correct radius. This is especially critical when covering the corner edge portions of counter tops. The laminate material is difficult to bend while cold, and is subject to cracking. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to manually bend a laminate strip to a desired radius. In order to overcome these problems, the present invention provides an automatic device for bending narrow laminate strips to a user adjustable predetermined radius.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various manual bending devices including templates and guides have been proposed for bending plastic material to a desired shape. These devices typically include a heating element for heating a thermoplastic material to a temperature which allows deformation. These conventional forms of templates and heating devices do not allow the convenient bending of a laminate strip to a predetermined radius in an automatic fashion.